In article <478sfg$atr@henson.cc.wwu.edu> Phillip Bigelow,
n8010095@cc.wwu.edu writes:> I have seen Navy (and U.S.C.G.) survival charts that you mention. I>should point out (and I should have done this before, but I erroneously>assumed that everyone knew the difference) that "survival time in the
water">is NOT AT ALL the same quantity as being in "thermal equilibrium" with
the>water. I am sorry for not pointing that out to you.> In order to disprove that an ADAPTATION is present for an aquatic>existance, while having no protective hair, we need to find out whether>humans (and their purported aquatic ancestors) were in THERMAL
EQUILIBRIUM>with ambient water temperature.> It is possible to SURVIVE indefinately in warm water, but you may not
be>in thermal equilibrium with the water (in other words, you are STILL
loosing>core heat IN SPITE of the fact that you "feel Okay".> Keep in mind that if the hypothetical hairless ape is NOT in thermal>equilibrium with the ambient water temp., over the timespan of it's life,>this poor creature may STILL suffer from thermic-related illnesses.>As I said, falsification may be looming on the horizon for the AAT.> <pb>

This is silly. You don't have to be at "thermal equilibrium" to survive
in cold water. First, your body generates heat. We get the energy to
generate heat from food. You can certainly be exposed to a cold
environment, whether it is water or air, and even though you don't have
perfect "thermal equalibrium" you can survive from your body generating
enough heat to keep you alive. Simple.
Secondly, if you get cold enough, you can just get out of the water.
Remember we are talking about a semi-aquatic organism - not a whale. If
you were to get out of the water periodically to rest and sun yourself,
you could spend quite a bit of time in cold water. - gee.. I do this
every year when I go to the beach! And the water temps at Ocean City are
certainly not 98.6 degrees.